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Campus News
Science Complex Sited, Designers Begin Work This Week
by Carolyn Ross and Steve Wise
Eight classrooms and 11 labo-ratories
are just some of the ex­pected
amenities of the new sci­ence
complex scheduled to open
in the fall of 1993. The new site,
approved just ten days ago by the
Board of Trustees, will be next to
the gym in the current Somerset
parking lot.
A decision to close Fisher Road
to through traffic was also made at
the special board meeting, how­ever
a proposed actual realign­ment
of the road is a plan not yet
looked at by the board.
The S16 million 55,000 square
foot science building is one of the
major projects involved in the
colleges master plan for expan­sion
and development.
One of the main master plan
concepts, contends the colleges
Vice President for Planning and
Research, Dr. John Underwood,
is to transform the St. Marys
campus into a walking campus...to
make it a better place, not just a
bigger place. A tidewater vil­lage
is the term used by the de­signers
to convey the image of a
kind of living and learning col­lege
community. In order to do
this, the main effort in design of
the facilities has been towards a
clustering effect aimed at unify­ing
the campus academic and resi­dential
buildings.
According to designers this new
spot for the science center was the
only place this cluster idea could
still be accomplished.
After holding two public meet­ings
earlier this month, where
support for the new site was given
by both the Historic St. Marys
City Rescue Coalition and the
Historic St. Marys City Commis­sion,
the Design Advisory Com­mittee
agreed to recommend the
new site to the board.
Nevertheless, at a January 19
presentation, one day before the
trustee vote, many students ex­pressed
that the site divided the
campus more by setting the
townhouses off from the dorms.
Others expressed concern with the
constructions immediate effects
such as parking, lighting, handi­capped
access, and subsequent
modifications that will eventually
be made with the sports fields. More
long term ramifications such as
further development of the gym
and the status of original master
plan additions of a second phase of
townhouses and a new auditorium
were also questioned. According
to the master plan, the auditorium
was to be built where the science
complex now will be located. Chip
Jackson, Director of Capital Proj­ects,
was unreachable this past week
for further comment on these ques­tions.
Fisher Road Realignment
Since the announcement of the
latest public meetings, many stu­dents
have been skeptical to hear
about the administrations plans
for Fisher Road. Rerouting the road
as it is proposed now would mean
wrapping it around the admissions
building, behind the townhouses
and ending it in the area of the
health center, before Montgomery
Hall and the science complex, once
it is built. There will be a turn­around
built there for cars to drop
off and pick up passengers. The
road in front of Caroline Hall and
Dorchester Circle would also be
disseminated as part of this proj­ect.
Dorchester Circle would be­come
more of a commons area where
students could hold outdoor events.
An access road would be built behind
the dorms and the area would be
open to cars during the time stu­dents
would be moving in and out
of the residence halls. Fisheis Road
itself would be designed more as a
kind ofwide thoroughfare where it
is hoped much less traffic will be
coming through the campus. Ac­cording
to Underwood, this is not
the final plan for the road. Fur­ther
study and close examination
of concerns such as the slight shifts
in the playing fields will have to
be conducted.
Parking
About 250 new parking spaces
will be added on campus, 200 of
which will be available by next fall.
As part of the first phase of con­struction
beginning in about 18
months, replacement parking for
the Somerset lot will be paved
behind the gym reducing the
number of tennis courts to three
and adding about 15 more spots
than currently available. Under­wood
assures that, as part of the
project, the tennis courts will be
looked at as well as the baseball
field for further expansions and
modification. Another 30 to 40
parking spaces will also be added
behind Caroline Hall, as well as an
access road to the dorms since Fisher
Road will be closed to through
traffic. At the meeting Underwood
stated that more information on
the parking lots and sports field
changes will be available before
spring break.
by Lara Graeff
We want an alarm sys-tem
that people trust, explains
Dean of Students, Lynn Willett of
the recent change in the campus
fire alarm system. After an aver-age
of ten to fifteen false alarms a
week, it was decided something
must be done to make the system
more reliable.
Only a few of the distur­bances
last semester were inten­tional
drills, however not all of the
false alarms were caused by stu­dent
misuse. Dust and hairspray
build-up may set the alarms off.
and often officials were never able
to pin-point the source of the prob­lem.
There are now no smoke
detectors in the hallways and those
in the individual rooms are hard
wired. This means that they can­not
be disconnected without set­ting
off the alarm.
Each dorm room, laundry
and lounge area has a single sta­tion
alarm. The alarm is set off in
an individual room and someone
is then to pull the general alarm
located in that hall. Only on the
third floor of eaclj stairwell are the
old systems stul in place as safety
precautions.
When the administration
Archeological Findings
Now that the Fisher Road
Survey conducted between the
townhouses and the road is com­pleted
the giant pits many campus
residents have watched get deeper
and deeper will now be filled.
Though the Historic St Marys City
Commission, which ran the sur­vey,
finds it unlikely that signifi­cant
archeological resources are
preserved under the paving at the
new site, the area where the pro­posed
Fisher Road realignment
occurs does run directly through
such significant spots of inter­est.
Discoveries of pottery frag­ments
and shell pits suggest occu­pation
of the area by prehistoric
Indians. Tobacco pipes and post­holes
indicating previous structures
are just some of the findings link­ing
us back to the seventeenth
century. The Commission has
ordered that further mitigation of
this site will be conducted before
any road preparations can be made.
Environmental Concerns
The Chesapeake Bay Critical
Area Commission has approved
the site and the college will hire an
environmental consultant to
ensure all guidelines set by the
commission are followed Although
it lies in an area deemed critical,
the Commission has agreed to al­low
construction to begin as long
as pollutant levels are reduced by a
became concerned about the ef­fectiveness
of the alarms, Dean
Willett, Ken Winegrad, director of
Residence Life, and Bill Barker of
Public Safety inquired into a new
system. They talked to officials at
College Park and took the advice
of the fire marshal to install this
new system.
Hoses were also taken out
of the hallways because they dont
want students fighting fires, they
want them to get out of the build­ing.
Extinguishers have been placed
in the hallways to aid escape or
emergency rescue. Indelible red
ink has been placed on both the
general alarms and the extinguish­ers
to protect against pranks.
One problem with the
system could arise if a hall were to
be empty, and no one was to hear
the alarm. The likelihood of this is
small, but Barker explains that the
rooms are constructed to contain
fire and that all that could escape
would be smoke from under the
door.
Calvert is the only dorm
left untouched by this change. There
have been fewproblems there and
the construction of the ceilings
minimizes the dust that falls into
the alarms.
minimum of 10% below pre-de-velopment
level Specific plans must
also be approved for landscaping
and reforestation of disturbed ar­eas.
The plans for the new science
facility also include an estuarine
water system requiring for under­ground
pipes connecting the build­ing
to the St. Marys River. Steps
will also be taken to limit the amount
of disturbance to water quality, fish,
and wildlife habitats as well as any
existing vegetation and shellfish
beds.
Overall the new site is the best
compromise between the physical
needs of the campus, and the arche­ological
and environmental con­cerns
of the area. Claims Under­wood,
We will be making an im­provement
in the quality of the
river and the pond.
Despite Rumors,
Beaver To Stay
by Joseph P. P. Walsh
Ive been working here for
twenty-one years and I cant re­member
there ever being a probem
with beavers, says Joseph Ral ey
of the Maintenance Department
at St. Marys College.
Reportedly, there are three
beavers living in St. Johns Pond
which have been building a dam in
front of the pipe that connects the
adjacent swamp to the pond The
Maintenance Department has been
regularly removing the dam be­cause
the obstruction is prevent­ing
the swamp from draining.
The problem is partly our
fault and partly the beavers fault,
claims Robert Abel, head of the
Maintenance Department. The
pipe has rusted and when the bea­ver
builds a dam across the en­trance,
water is forced around the
pipe, eroding away the causeway.
A metal grate was placed across
the mouth of the pipe to prevent
debris from buiding inside, but the
swamp was still unable to drain.
Recently, a Hidden Bea­ver
Club drew much of the cam­pus
attention to the beavers situ­ation
when a banner was hung near
the pond on the path to Charles
Hall reading, Save the Beaver...
Build a Bridge. The group be­lieves
that campus officials want to
remove the beaver and rumors that
the beaver will be darted, trapped,
or killed have been spreading
If the beaver were to be
removed, which I dont consider
likely, the method used would
probably be live trapping and rel
ocation, describes Raley.
Whether the Hidden
Beaver Club has anything to fight
for remains in question.
Faculty Artist Michele Demanches work will be on display in her exhibit
called Painted Constructions in the Montgomery
Hall Gallery until February 2. photo by Laura Moya
New System Prevents False Alarms

Campus News
Science Complex Sited, Designers Begin Work This Week
by Carolyn Ross and Steve Wise
Eight classrooms and 11 labo-ratories
are just some of the ex­pected
amenities of the new sci­ence
complex scheduled to open
in the fall of 1993. The new site,
approved just ten days ago by the
Board of Trustees, will be next to
the gym in the current Somerset
parking lot.
A decision to close Fisher Road
to through traffic was also made at
the special board meeting, how­ever
a proposed actual realign­ment
of the road is a plan not yet
looked at by the board.
The S16 million 55,000 square
foot science building is one of the
major projects involved in the
colleges master plan for expan­sion
and development.
One of the main master plan
concepts, contends the colleges
Vice President for Planning and
Research, Dr. John Underwood,
is to transform the St. Marys
campus into a walking campus...to
make it a better place, not just a
bigger place. A tidewater vil­lage
is the term used by the de­signers
to convey the image of a
kind of living and learning col­lege
community. In order to do
this, the main effort in design of
the facilities has been towards a
clustering effect aimed at unify­ing
the campus academic and resi­dential
buildings.
According to designers this new
spot for the science center was the
only place this cluster idea could
still be accomplished.
After holding two public meet­ings
earlier this month, where
support for the new site was given
by both the Historic St. Marys
City Rescue Coalition and the
Historic St. Marys City Commis­sion,
the Design Advisory Com­mittee
agreed to recommend the
new site to the board.
Nevertheless, at a January 19
presentation, one day before the
trustee vote, many students ex­pressed
that the site divided the
campus more by setting the
townhouses off from the dorms.
Others expressed concern with the
constructions immediate effects
such as parking, lighting, handi­capped
access, and subsequent
modifications that will eventually
be made with the sports fields. More
long term ramifications such as
further development of the gym
and the status of original master
plan additions of a second phase of
townhouses and a new auditorium
were also questioned. According
to the master plan, the auditorium
was to be built where the science
complex now will be located. Chip
Jackson, Director of Capital Proj­ects,
was unreachable this past week
for further comment on these ques­tions.
Fisher Road Realignment
Since the announcement of the
latest public meetings, many stu­dents
have been skeptical to hear
about the administrations plans
for Fisher Road. Rerouting the road
as it is proposed now would mean
wrapping it around the admissions
building, behind the townhouses
and ending it in the area of the
health center, before Montgomery
Hall and the science complex, once
it is built. There will be a turn­around
built there for cars to drop
off and pick up passengers. The
road in front of Caroline Hall and
Dorchester Circle would also be
disseminated as part of this proj­ect.
Dorchester Circle would be­come
more of a commons area where
students could hold outdoor events.
An access road would be built behind
the dorms and the area would be
open to cars during the time stu­dents
would be moving in and out
of the residence halls. Fisheis Road
itself would be designed more as a
kind ofwide thoroughfare where it
is hoped much less traffic will be
coming through the campus. Ac­cording
to Underwood, this is not
the final plan for the road. Fur­ther
study and close examination
of concerns such as the slight shifts
in the playing fields will have to
be conducted.
Parking
About 250 new parking spaces
will be added on campus, 200 of
which will be available by next fall.
As part of the first phase of con­struction
beginning in about 18
months, replacement parking for
the Somerset lot will be paved
behind the gym reducing the
number of tennis courts to three
and adding about 15 more spots
than currently available. Under­wood
assures that, as part of the
project, the tennis courts will be
looked at as well as the baseball
field for further expansions and
modification. Another 30 to 40
parking spaces will also be added
behind Caroline Hall, as well as an
access road to the dorms since Fisher
Road will be closed to through
traffic. At the meeting Underwood
stated that more information on
the parking lots and sports field
changes will be available before
spring break.
by Lara Graeff
We want an alarm sys-tem
that people trust, explains
Dean of Students, Lynn Willett of
the recent change in the campus
fire alarm system. After an aver-age
of ten to fifteen false alarms a
week, it was decided something
must be done to make the system
more reliable.
Only a few of the distur­bances
last semester were inten­tional
drills, however not all of the
false alarms were caused by stu­dent
misuse. Dust and hairspray
build-up may set the alarms off.
and often officials were never able
to pin-point the source of the prob­lem.
There are now no smoke
detectors in the hallways and those
in the individual rooms are hard
wired. This means that they can­not
be disconnected without set­ting
off the alarm.
Each dorm room, laundry
and lounge area has a single sta­tion
alarm. The alarm is set off in
an individual room and someone
is then to pull the general alarm
located in that hall. Only on the
third floor of eaclj stairwell are the
old systems stul in place as safety
precautions.
When the administration
Archeological Findings
Now that the Fisher Road
Survey conducted between the
townhouses and the road is com­pleted
the giant pits many campus
residents have watched get deeper
and deeper will now be filled.
Though the Historic St Marys City
Commission, which ran the sur­vey,
finds it unlikely that signifi­cant
archeological resources are
preserved under the paving at the
new site, the area where the pro­posed
Fisher Road realignment
occurs does run directly through
such significant spots of inter­est.
Discoveries of pottery frag­ments
and shell pits suggest occu­pation
of the area by prehistoric
Indians. Tobacco pipes and post­holes
indicating previous structures
are just some of the findings link­ing
us back to the seventeenth
century. The Commission has
ordered that further mitigation of
this site will be conducted before
any road preparations can be made.
Environmental Concerns
The Chesapeake Bay Critical
Area Commission has approved
the site and the college will hire an
environmental consultant to
ensure all guidelines set by the
commission are followed Although
it lies in an area deemed critical,
the Commission has agreed to al­low
construction to begin as long
as pollutant levels are reduced by a
became concerned about the ef­fectiveness
of the alarms, Dean
Willett, Ken Winegrad, director of
Residence Life, and Bill Barker of
Public Safety inquired into a new
system. They talked to officials at
College Park and took the advice
of the fire marshal to install this
new system.
Hoses were also taken out
of the hallways because they dont
want students fighting fires, they
want them to get out of the build­ing.
Extinguishers have been placed
in the hallways to aid escape or
emergency rescue. Indelible red
ink has been placed on both the
general alarms and the extinguish­ers
to protect against pranks.
One problem with the
system could arise if a hall were to
be empty, and no one was to hear
the alarm. The likelihood of this is
small, but Barker explains that the
rooms are constructed to contain
fire and that all that could escape
would be smoke from under the
door.
Calvert is the only dorm
left untouched by this change. There
have been fewproblems there and
the construction of the ceilings
minimizes the dust that falls into
the alarms.
minimum of 10% below pre-de-velopment
level Specific plans must
also be approved for landscaping
and reforestation of disturbed ar­eas.
The plans for the new science
facility also include an estuarine
water system requiring for under­ground
pipes connecting the build­ing
to the St. Marys River. Steps
will also be taken to limit the amount
of disturbance to water quality, fish,
and wildlife habitats as well as any
existing vegetation and shellfish
beds.
Overall the new site is the best
compromise between the physical
needs of the campus, and the arche­ological
and environmental con­cerns
of the area. Claims Under­wood,
We will be making an im­provement
in the quality of the
river and the pond.
Despite Rumors,
Beaver To Stay
by Joseph P. P. Walsh
Ive been working here for
twenty-one years and I cant re­member
there ever being a probem
with beavers, says Joseph Ral ey
of the Maintenance Department
at St. Marys College.
Reportedly, there are three
beavers living in St. Johns Pond
which have been building a dam in
front of the pipe that connects the
adjacent swamp to the pond The
Maintenance Department has been
regularly removing the dam be­cause
the obstruction is prevent­ing
the swamp from draining.
The problem is partly our
fault and partly the beavers fault,
claims Robert Abel, head of the
Maintenance Department. The
pipe has rusted and when the bea­ver
builds a dam across the en­trance,
water is forced around the
pipe, eroding away the causeway.
A metal grate was placed across
the mouth of the pipe to prevent
debris from buiding inside, but the
swamp was still unable to drain.
Recently, a Hidden Bea­ver
Club drew much of the cam­pus
attention to the beavers situ­ation
when a banner was hung near
the pond on the path to Charles
Hall reading, Save the Beaver...
Build a Bridge. The group be­lieves
that campus officials want to
remove the beaver and rumors that
the beaver will be darted, trapped,
or killed have been spreading
If the beaver were to be
removed, which I dont consider
likely, the method used would
probably be live trapping and rel
ocation, describes Raley.
Whether the Hidden
Beaver Club has anything to fight
for remains in question.
Faculty Artist Michele Demanches work will be on display in her exhibit
called Painted Constructions in the Montgomery
Hall Gallery until February 2. photo by Laura Moya
New System Prevents False Alarms